Sweeping Away the Past
by knightslayers
Summary: Karkat Vantas manages to land himself a crappy job as a janitor with the help of his friend Sollux Captor. Stuck with a depressing past, Karkat decides to try and turn his life around in order to convince his closest friends and his father that he isn't a complete failure. Little does he know, the toughest challenge will be to accept himself. Homestuck AU/HumanStuck.


"And this is Karkat Vantas."

Karkat noticed how well his friend could hide his lisp now. The familiar spurting and butchery of the words was gone. And he kind of missed it.

The fancily dressed man was on the other side of the desk from them, inspecting Karkat with cold eyes and a bit of a grimace.

_What are you looking at?_ Karkat almost said. But then he remembered rule number one, straight from the sputtering lips of his friend Sollux Captor. The one who had brought him here for this job application.

"Don't even thspeak a word," Sollux brought his finger to Karkats lips jokingly, "I'll do the talking for you. Just nod at everything he thays," Sollux had said just minutes before they walked into the beautifully decorated office building. Karkat noticed the elevator. Thirteen floors.

"Funny how my best friend with the lisp is the one who does the talking for me," Karkat said coldly. Any other person would think they offended him, but Sollux knew better.

"Yeah, KK. But you would be shouting at him and swearing until security had to remove you. And then you'd never get that job."

Karkat couldn't keep back a snicker.

**Karkat: Stop thinking about the past and get back to that job interview.**

"We can offer you two jobs that would suit a man of your," the elegant man dramatically tried to find a word, "caliber." He seemed pleased with his colorful vocabulary.

Karkat desperately tried to hold back a knuckle sandwich.

"And what are those jobs?" Sollux quickly answered for him, sensing Karkat's darkening mood.

"I think you know what those jobs will be, Sol," said the sly little asshole.

Karkat could've sworn he had seen him wink.

"Tell us. It seems I have forgotten," Sollux said through gritted teeth. Karkat noticed his calm demeanor fault into a scowl for just a moment. He had never seen something quite like that before from Sollux.

There was a pause.

"Janitor or errand runner," the boss intertwined his fingers together.

Sollux took a deep breath and looked at Karkat_. Sorry buddy._

Those jobs seriously sucked big time, but the errand runner was still the obvious choice. Karkat would rather be someone's delivery boy then be scraping shit off bathroom floors.

And so he broke rule number one, "I would like to be the errand runner."

**You instantly regret saying anything at all.**

The boss smiled sourly and looked at Karkat for the first time that day, "Were you asked to speak, peasant boy?"

This took Karkat by surprise. He sat there trying to find his usual comebacks, but he had nothing to say.

The boss laughed. "Janitor it is. You can start tomorrow. I'll leave your uniform in a box near the basement stairs."

**You can't believe you were just insulted by a rich prick in an ugly suit.**

"What an asshole," Karkat raged once they were out of earshot, "who the flying fuck was that guy?"

"Hith name ith Eridan Ampora," Sollux said with out looking at Karkat, "and I hate him."

"Yeah he looked like he was about ready to give you a smooch," Karkat joked. But he stopped laughing when he realized Sollux did not appreciate his humor. Karkat followed Sollux silently all the way to the elevator before he realized he should go.

"Thith ith the elevator leading up to the tech lab," Sollux said, getting in.

"Alright," Karkat waved, "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

The elevator had just about shut when Sollux stuck his hand through and it opened again.

"KK, I'm thorry I landed you thuch a shitty job."

"It's alright. I was being a stupid shit."

"... Altho, I know you live really far away from here, KK. So I can pick you up tomorrow morning if you'd like so we can come to work together," Sollux offered, and Karkat knew Sollux just wanted him to have a good time and be happy.

"It's fine, asswipe. You don't have to do that for me."

Karkat knew he would come anyway and it made him smile.

**Karkat: Return to your crappy neighborhood**

Karkat Vantas made an effort to get back to his compound as fast as possible. Shit got real after dark, and Karkat wanted no part of it.

He turned the corner and made a break for someone's backyard in hopes that he would avoid the street where the worst crooks in town lurked.

He leaped over the fence in the back and landed in the alleyway outside his run-down apartment building. It looked like the spray painters had come back and had made new designs all over the back of the building.

There was a new one. It was a picture of some guy with a white head and a black suit with the words "you can't run" written sloppily next to it.

Whatever the hell that meant. Honestly.

Karkat ran up and took the stairs to his apartment. B69.

Once upon a time, his Dad had lived with him too. But that was over a year ago when Karkat was 15 years old.

**You try and remember your father. But it's almost too sad for you.**

It was awfully cold that night and Karkat had just decided to join the gang, which Karkat's Dad told him never to take part in.

Karkat kicked open the door and made his way into the dim apartment all while stumbling to the back wall to try and flick on the light switch.

"Hey, Crabdad. I'm home," Karkat stuck his gang registration into his pocket and snickered.

Karkat finally got to the switch and the lights hummed on.

"Hello? Dad?"

No answer. Where the hell was he?

"Are you fucking stupid? Answer me!" Karkat kicked the couch in frustration. He was so done with his Dad. Nagging him to get a job. Telling him things would get better. And now he wouldn't even answer him?

Karkat stormed across the tiny apartment and slammed open his Dad's bedroom door.

**Blood.**

It was everywhere.

It was on the sheets. It was on the small writing desk. It was on the floor. It was on the ceiling and the door.

**You remember the HORRIBLE STENCH of blood VERY WELL.**

"CRABDAD!" Karkat was screaming now.

It didn't take Karkat long to find Crabdad's body. There was a long gash running from his face down to his leg where the blood was leaking out.

"Dad. Dad… No. Don't leave me like this. Don't leave me in this shithole," Karkat whispered as he ran his fingers along Crabdad's wrist trying to feel for a pulse. It was easy, for it seemed someone had taken the watch Crabdad had always worn off of his wrist.

"You promised… You promised…"

Karkat already knew there would be nothing. No pulse. He was dead.

His Dad had been killed for a few measly quarters. They had ransacked their apartment and had taken everything near to Karkat's heart. It was gone.

Karkat knelt down next to his Dad's body and cried.

**Karkat: Stop remembering. These are your private memories, for God's sake.**

Karkat rubbed his temples and tried to clear his head. He hated himself for letting that happen to his dad.

He hated himself so fucking much.

It had happened because he had joined that gang. _They were the ones who had gotten his Dad._ He couldn't believe how ridiculously stupid he was for letting that happen.

Karkat thought joining the gang would make everything better for himself. Instead, it made things worse as Karkat had to take care of himself and his best friend at the ripe age of 15.

Karkat was always looking out for his best friend Gamzee Makara, who was even worse off than he was. He took drugs, some of which Karkat hadn't even heard of. He lived in the worst part of the city possible and he had no wishes to do anything more with his life, unlike Karkat who rode above the influence and did whatever he could to try and ditch the city.

In other words, Gamzee was dead inside. But best friends don't leave each other.

Ever.

Without Karkat, Gamzee wouldn't have anyone. And then he'd go completely off the deep end. Karkat knew he was Gamzee's one-way ticket to sanity and he did whatever made Gamzee happy. Even if that meant Karkat wasted all his money buying Gamzee's favorite "sopor pies" from the back alleyways.

But Karkat hadn't seen the clown around in over 3 months and he felt more alone than ever.

That's when Karkat met Sollux. Technical extraordinaire, Karkat's second best friend, and a really cool guy. Someone he could depend on and trust. Sollux was someone who Karkat was sure would not give up on him.

**Sollux SAVED YOU just like the way you saved Gamzee. And that comforts you.**

Karkat plopped onto his couch and tried falling asleep, but it was nerve wracking that the next day was his big debut as janitor.

_ Big debut?_

What the hell was he talking about?

It was more like a big irritating crap hole. Especially with Eridan Ampora. That guy made Karkat want to punch a hole in the wall in frustration. That fucking pansy should be ashamed for thinking he was so high and mighty and better than everyone else. Who even was he? Probably some spoiled rich brat. And the way he treated Sollux pissed Karkat off, too.

At least he would be driving in with Sollux tomorrow so he wouldn't be totally alone going down to the basement to collect his nasty uniform. Matter of fact, Karkat didn't even know what the corporation he was now working for was called, never mind his grubby uniform.

Karkat told himself to shut up and go to sleep. At least he had a job. He had fulfilled one of Crabdad's final wishes for him.

That was good, right?

* * *

**aaaaHHHHHHHHhhhhh YEAH,,, Karkat's got it pretty bad. D;**

**wowwee! i haven't written anything in a little while, but i hope you enjoyed this nonetheless. ****I actually really enjoyed writing this one despite it being kinda sad. C: ****I know absolutely nothing about gangs, so I'm really sorry if I got the concept 100% wrong. xD**

****BIG THANKS TO MY FRIEND MILLY FOR THINKING UP THE TITLE! ****

**But AHH thank you all so much for reading!**


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